Milling an object can be divided in Roughing and Finishing. Removing the stock material to a shape that can be finished is the first step and normally will be created in multiple passes. The second step is one pass and will result in the final geometry.

Bounding Box can be any shape but the best results will be by a rectangular box.

Milling object has to be inside or partially inside the bounding box. This could be any type of geometry (mesh/surface/brep).

Step Over Distance is the distance between the paths.

Path Resolution is the point resolution of each line.

Offset Roughing Object is the distance between the roughing lines and the object. When roughing fast we recommend a distance around 1 cm.

Milling Depth is the length of the mill what goes through the material. This will results in the quantity of passes/layers.

Milling Orientation Controls can be used to mill in a curtain direction.
After the calculations of the Roughing or Finishing the Roll/Pitch/Yaw and the local orientation* can we controlled.

Instructions

RAPCAM is currently available as a plug-in on Rhinoceros and Grasshopper 3D (Both products of McNeel). This affordable software allows you to modify your parts and simulate the production quickly. Please make sure you have Rhino 5 installed before installing RAPCAM. You can get Rhino 5 here and Grasshopper here.

On this page you’ll find everything you need to work with RAPCAM. We recommend starting with the following tutorials or taking a look at the Frequently Asked Questions. If you have any other questions feel free to contact us through the button at the bottom of the page.

Grasshopper Video Tutorials

For RAPCAM to work correctly certain steps need to be followed. 1 – Making sure you run the right version of Rhino. Users are expected to run last available Rhino v5 update. v6 version of Rhino is not yet supported. You can check this in Rhino by clicking Help -> About Rhinoceros… You…

In this video we explain how to use a contouring workflow in RAPCAM for Grasshopper. Next to the video, you can also download a ready made script to further analyse all constituent parts that make RAPCAM components function.

In this video we explain how to use a panel workflow in RAPCAM for Grasshopper. Next to the video, you can also download a ready made script to further analyse all constituent parts that make RAPCAM components function.